Tuesday, June 29, 2004

What have I been doing?

I've been being tired. For a lot of reasons, but I'm just tired. I'm not going to let that stop me.

There's a new dog in the house. Right now, we're just trying to decide if he should stay. The dog, a half-Boston Bull Terrier, half-Pug, was a gift to The Lovely One from her father. Can we handle a dog? Is it a good idea? Is the dog what's made my left eye suddenly turn red and irritated?

I am wildly ambivalent about the dog. I like dogs in general, and this one in specific seems remarkably good-natured, and he looks hilarious (in a good way). As a dog for The Lovely One, he's probably ideal: unintimidatingly small, very loving (unlike the insane cat), and cute. For me, well, I have long mused about the idea of a dog, and the attraction for me is an excuse to go for long walks (the dog doesn't know it, but I've been working him through some interval training and mild endurance increases) and bike rides with Johnny the dog, and the opportunity to prove that I can actually get a dog to obey me consistently. But that's not a good reason for The Lovely One to have a dog, y'see.

There's also the issue of Inside or Outside. This dog is too small and badly insulated to be an outside dog. But The Lovely One is unwilling to let the cat and dog...meet. That means the dog would get occasional day passes to the house when the cat is sleeping in the bedroom, and there's an odd scheme in the works for the dog to stay at the in-laws' house during the day. I am skeptical.

We didn't go to the Storeyum on the weekend because we were tired. And I'm behind on several projects, everything from changing something big on this site to re-spoking a wheel. So what did I do last night? Walked the dog, made a fire.

I should write something about the election here, right? Barring a recount reversal, the Liberals got denied their Lib-NDP working majority, which means there won't be a huge leftward skew left. Except, of course, that the BQ is philosophically left-leaning, and would probably be quite happy to tacitly support any manner of leftward social policy, leaving the Conservatives out in the cold. I think there are several ways for Martin to govern, but invited to make a prediction earlier, I guessed that it would take 36 months for us to return to the polls. But that's a guess, and a not very informed one. Elsewhere, I also guessed that the seat count would be 111-110 for the Conservatives. That wasn't right.

I think my politics postings are less interesting than my other postings. So let's finish on a cycling note: I'm skipping my race tonight, but there's a tiny chance I'll do the Yaletown Grand Prix. Meanwhile, I need to work on plugging more rides into the system. I seem to be at some sort of peace with my equipment right now, though: aside from neglecting maintenance, I don't feel a compelling need to upgrade any of my bikes. No plans for a new full-suspension super dirt bike, no unrestrained lusting after a hot new road bike (the restrained lusting continues apace). But I just need to go on more long rides. And hills. And stop eating two desserts.